› added 3 years ago

165

TIL that Sir Richard Whittington (Medieval Mayor of London, and inspiration for the Dick Whittington childrens stories) founded a charity upon his death in 1423. 600 years later, the charity is still operational, and continues to provide housing to the elderly and impoverished

lxP5 TIL A former Israeli nuclear technician revealed details of Israel’s nuclear weapons program to the British press in 1986. He was subsequently lured to Italy by a Mossad agent, where he was drugged and abducted by Israeli intelligence agents.
MeAKV TIL For five hours and 29 minutes Mercury will be visible crossing the sun on November 11, 2019. It will be one of 14 such transits in the 21st century – the last one occurred in 2016
mjWx TIL That the euro in Comic Sans originally had a cartoon eye, but was later removed because “The EU was going to sue us over that.”
v145L TIL of "Hammer" Simwinga, a Zambian man who has helped stop poaching in North Luangwa Nat'l Park. Most villages near the park relied on poaching for income. Simwinga eliminated the need for poaching for 35K+ people in 60 villages by teaching sunflower planting, beekeeping, & sustainable farming.
epDQL TIL that during World War 2, aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and general Charles De Gaulle despised each other, causing his works to be banned in both Free France and Vichy France. As a result, The Little Prince was first published in the United States, and only was published in France after WW2.